Private exchange sees surge in healthcare enrollment

The number of customers on the nation's largest private health insurance exchange increased by 50% in the final three months of 2013, a direct result of demand created by the Affordable Care Act, the company's CEO said Thursday. Gary Lauer, CEO of eHealth Insurance, said individual memberships rose 50% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared with the same period in 2012, from 113,600 applications in the last three months of 2012 to 169,800 in 2013. "The impact of the Affordable Care Act provisions were especially significant in the individual market," Lauer said Thursday afternoon. The opening Oct. 1 of the enrollment period for people to buy health insurance "drove significant demand," he said.